1. Preliminary Thesis Statement Writing
Literary Research Paper

2. OBJECTIVE
To craft an early draft of your thesis statement that shows your focus and approach to research and connects with the topics you seem to be finding in your research.

3. STEP ONE: Review Research
Look for and organize…
Patterns in research findings
Intriguing insights—ideas about the text that are new and exciting to you
Researched ideas that connect to your own opinions or reactions to the text
Use the tangible nature of your notecards to your benefit…
Lay them all out and examine them—this will help you to actually see patterns in your research
Make piles of similar ideas

4. STEP TWO: Choose An (Initial) Arguable Focus
Debatable
Questionable
Disputable
Someone has to be able to DISAGREE with your idea…this can’t be a FACT of the text!
You must be able to sustain (5-8 pages) and support (5 secondary sources) this focus…
What do you already have in your research?
What more do you need? How do you need to focus your work for remaining Media Center days?

5. POSSIBLE THESIS STATEMENT DIRECTIONS
Look to your own annotations and original ideas about the text…the best topics originate from these creative, personal thoughts!
Some common research approaches to consider…

6. Common Lit. Research Topics
A discussion of a work's characters: are they realistic, symbolic, historically-based?
A comparison/contrast of the choices different authors or characters make in a work
A reading of a work based on an outside philosophical perspective (Ex. how would a Freudian read Hamlet?)
A study of the sources or historical events that inspired a particular work
An analysis of a specific image occurring in several works (Ex. the use of moon imagery in certain plays, poems, novels)
A study of the social, political, or economic context in which a work was written — how does the context/era influence the work?

7. Sample Thesis Statements
Mark Twain shows how racism in the Regionalist Era can corrupt good people in Huckleberry Finn.
The climax of The Great Gatsby represents the classic struggle of good versus evil prevalent in the Modern Era.
In major works of the Transcendentalists, spiritualism is the driving force that connects the theme and the plot.
The rise of the Imagist Movement can be traced over a period of twenty years and was effected the most by the politics of the time.
Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy’s Debt of Honor is a classic modern hero.
The main character in “To Build a Fire” embodies a man versus nature struggle that characterizes most realist writings.

8. DON’T WORRY…
These samples are much more polished and more formal than what you need to produce RIGHT NOW. These exemplify what your thesis statement will look like in your final draft…

9. Preliminary Thesis Statement Formatting
In the Regionalist Era, local color authors accentuate their characters’ identity by the vernacular of differing regions or parts of America.
This is the BARE MINIMUM of what you need to produce. If this is all you can do right now, that is perfectly fine. But, if you can say more and in a more formal fashion…DO IT!!!